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The Workers' Compensation Commission approved, at its Jan. 26 business meeting, increasing fines and fees assessed under the Workers' Compensation Act.

On March 12, the Workers' Compensation Commission adopted an amended Rule 4.2.

State safety administration considers repealing five administrative rules and adopting three.

An insurer may be entitled to an offset from a workers' compensation lump-sum payment when the claimant is already receiving disability benefits from the insurer, even if the medical conditions are unrelated.

A permanently partially disabled claimant who receives postinjury training but limits her search for employment without showing her inability to get a job is related to her disability fails to maintain an attachment to the labor market.

If an employee passes under the borrowing employer's right of control with regard to the work to be performed, he becomes the employee of the borrowing employer instead of the lending employer.

In New Hampshire, the calculation of a worker's average weekly wage is determined by dividing pre-tax "gross earnings" over a period of 26 to 52 weeks by that number of weeks.

In Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act cases, hourly rates for attorney's fees should be reasonably based on prevailing market rates rather than on the complexity of the issues.

A doctor's testimony must indicate that transportation is medically necessary to support an authorization for transportation to and from the claimant's physicians for treatment.

Under Texas law, if an employee is injured in a car accident while on a personal errand, and her trip would have taken place even if no business was being done for her employer, her injury will not be covered by the dual purpose rule.

A waiver of immunity under the Workers' Compensation Act by an employer does not restore normal Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act actions to other subcontractors who were not parties to the waiver.

Under New York law, an employer may overcome the presumption of compensability by providing substantial evidence that an unwitnessed or unexplained death did not occur during the course of employment.

A willful failure to produce documents regarding the number of workers' compensation claims made against a company may be seen as bad faith by a court, and the court may impose sanctions.

In Illinois, the claimant's varied work duties will not bar a claim for repetitive trauma where evidence indicates that the work required frequent and repetitive hand usage.

Where the doctor is aware of the claimant's activities and continues to keep the claimant at a sedentary level, a temporary total disability award is warranted.

In Iowa, death benefits do not have to be divided equally among the surviving spouses and dependents to be considered an equitable distribution.